1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sewing machine mounted with a support frame drive unit for moving a workpiece cloth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The sewing machine detachably mounted with a support frame drive unit (hereinafter referred to simply as "drive unit") has been described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. HEI-4-364887. In this Laid-Open Patent Publication, as shown in the explanatory diagrams shown in FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b), a workpiece cloth is supported by an embroidery frame 102 on the drive unit 100. The embroidery frame 102 is attached to a support portion. This support portion is moved in the front-and-back direction by a Y-direction movement mechanism 104. The Y-direction movement mechanism 104 moves in the left-and-right direction according to an X-direction movement mechanism. The Y-direction movement mechanism 104 is exposed on the external part of the drive unit 100, while the X-direction movement mechanism is provided inside the drive unit 100. Thus, when the drive unit 100 is removably mounted on the sewing machine, the embroidery frame 102 can be moved forward and backward or left and right beneath the vertically moving sewing machine needle.
Recently, large embroidery patterns have become fashionable. Thus, the movement ranges of the X-direction movement mechanism and the Y-direction movement mechanism 104 have been expanded along with the embroidery frame 102. The drive unit 100 itself has been made larger in order to accommodate these larger embroidery patterns. However, since a considerable amount of space is required to store the sewing machine when it is mounted with the drive unit 100, in some cases it is more suitable to separate the two. In addition, the sewing machine is sometimes stored with the embroidery frame 102 attached to the drive unit 100 to eliminate both the possibility of losing the embroidery frame 102 and the trouble required to remove and attach the same from the drive unit 100.
However, when the sewing machine is stored with the embroidery frame 102 attached to the drive unit 100, as described above, the area in which the embroidery frame 102 and drive unit 100 overlap is small, and the surface area (seen from above, as in FIG. 9(a)) occupied by the embroidery frame 102 and the drive unit 100 is large. Thus, a large area is occupied by the drive unit 100. A very large amount of space will be necessary particularly if a large embroidery frame 102 is attached to the drive unit 100.
The dimensions X1 and Y1 of FIG. 9(a), for example, are longer than the respective dimensions X2 and Y2 of FIG. 9(b). Thus, the drive unit 100 in the state shown in FIG. 9(a) requires more width and depth than the drive unit 100 shown in FIG. 9(b).
Hence, if the drive unit 100 is set next to a wall or other objects, the embroidery frame 102 and the drive unit 100 must be positioned in such a way as not to bump against the wall or other objects. In addition, the drive unit 100 might not fit into an area if a part attached externally to the drive unit 100 that moves with the embroidery frame 102 (the Y-direction movement mechanism 104, for example) is not in a suitable position.